Page 51 of Dead Drift

Tanya switched cameras to the parking lot and bingo. “I recognize this. It’s one of the trucks we lent out to the guy you called Cyrus,” she said.

“I’ll have traffic cameras start searching for the truck,” Declan said.

“That’s it.” Tanya snapped.

Luke arched a brow. “What’s it?”

“The trucks.” Tanya switched to a different screen on the computer and again entered a series of passwords. “The video cameras weren’t the only hidden thing Hank had going.” She typed in several more number combinations. “Only Hank and I knew, but he installed GPS trackers on all his trucks.”

“Seriously?” Luke said.

She nodded.

Thank you, Lord.

“Hank worked with some—well, let’s just call it like it is—monsters,” she said, glancing at Hank’s body being wheeled out the door by the ME. She swallowed hard, tears streaking down her cheeks. “It was his way of protecting his assets,” she said, choking on a sob.

Kate handed her a tissue.

“Thanks.” She sniffed.

“And the people taking the trucks didn’t know?” Luke asked. It was a critical factor.

“No.” Tanya shook her head as she blew her nose.

“Are you positive?” Declan asked.

She nodded. “Positive. A buddy of Hank’s who is a total whiz kid when it comes to techie gear decked out all the trucks for him. Said it’d be nearly impossible to find them.”

Nearly wasn’t good enough, but there was hope, a chance.

Tanya found the screen she’d been searching for and grabbed a pad of paper. She started jotting down the truck numbers and their current locations. When she was done, she handed the page with trembling fingers to Luke, who handed it to Declan. It was her ticket into witness protection.

“There are four trucks here.” Declan frowned. “I thought you said five went out?”

“Five did . . .” Tanya typed in some numbers, then frowned. “One isn’t registering.”

“Which one?” Luke asked, his gut sinking.

Tanya exhaled. “The one they drove here this morning.”

“Any chance they figured out there was a tracker on board?” Luke asked. Their first break would collapse if Ebeid was aware of the trucks’ GPS tracking devices.

Tanya shook her head. “Not from what Hank said.”

“Could anything short them out?” Declan asked.

“Water,” Luke said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if they ditched the truck, submerging it somewhere in water, where it’d be unlikely to be found.”

“Hopefully, we’ll catch a hit on it from traffic cams,” Declan said. “See if we can’t deduce the direction it was headed and where it might have been dumped.”

“And the other four?” Luke asked.

Declan clutched the paper Tanya had written the locations on. “All at the same address in Sparrow’s Point.”

“Let’s pray that’s where they have Bedan and the weapons holed up,” Luke said, calling Mack to quickly pinpoint the location, while Declan did the same with the Bureau task force.

“Well?” Ebeid asked as Brandt entered.